The Northwest Passage: In the wake of Larsen and the St. Roch

Explore: A Canadian Geographic podcast

The pack-ice 'round us cracks and groans;

The old St. Roch, she creaks and moans.

- Stan Rogers

In 1940, the wooden-hulled St. Roch became the second ship to successfully sail the Northwest Passage and the first to do it from west to east, captained by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's Henry Larsen. Our guest on this episode, Ken Burton, recreated that voyage 60 years later on another RCMP ship, the St. Roch II. A new RCGS Fellow, veteran sailor and polar explorer, Burton shares the incredible story of Larsen and the St. Roch's two-and-a-half-year journey through the Arctic ice in the early days of World War II and its secret mission to invade Greenland. He also shares the story of his own incredible Northwest Passage journey on the St. Roch II and how that trip set the speed record for the circumnavigation of North America.

As well as being an RCMP Coastal Commander and expedition leader in the Arctic and Antarctic, Ken Burton has served as Chief Executive Officer of the Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue Society and the Executive Director of the Vancouver Maritime Museum.